Senior IT Leadership, Without the Executive Salary
Someone in your business is making six-figure technology decisions. Is it someone whose job that is? Our accredited vCIO/vCTO practice has guided mid-market businesses and startups through exactly these calls — roadmaps, budgets, vendors, and security governance — on a monthly retainer, not a $250K salary.
Every Business Climbs the Same Technology Ladder
First you fix things when they break. Then you pay someone to keep them running. Then one day the decisions get bigger than the operations — and that's the rung most businesses climb blind.
React: When Things Break
Emergency IT support gets you back online. Essential — but it's a fire department, not a plan.
Run: Keep It All Working
Managed IT handles the day to day: monitoring, help desk, security operations, backups. The lights stay on.
Lead: Decide Where It Goes
Fractional IT leadership owns the strategy: what to buy, what to retire, what to budget, and how technology serves the business plan. This page.
The three tiers reinforce each other — but they're separable. Some clients bring us in purely for leadership alongside their existing IT staff or provider. Others add leadership to a managed IT engagement. Either way, strategy and operations finally point in the same direction.
The Expensive Gap Between "IT Works" and "IT Is Going Somewhere"
Here's the pattern we see in growing businesses across Greater Vancouver: the technology mostly works, but nobody owns where it's going. The ERP got chosen because a vendor gave a good demo. The cloud bill doubled and nobody can say why. A big client sent a security questionnaire and it sat for three weeks because nobody knew whose job it was. IT spend grows every year — without a plan, a budget owner, or a scorecard.
A full-time CIO solves this at $200,000+ a year — which makes sense at 500 staff and no sense at 50. Fractional leadership closes the gap: an accredited vCIO/vCTO practice that has strategized alongside mid-market businesses and guided startups from first infrastructure decisions to diligence-ready operations, engaged for the days per month your business actually needs.
What Fractional IT Leadership Covers
Three responsibilities, owned end to end — the same portfolio a full-time CIO would carry, scaled to your size.
Roadmap & Budget Ownership
A living 12–24 month technology roadmap tied to your business plan, an IT budget with an owner and a forecast, and quarterly reviews where decisions get made — not just discussed. Every dollar of technology spend traces to a business reason.
Vendor & Project Oversight
We sit on your side of the table for every major technology decision: ERP and software selection, contract negotiation, cloud commitments, and project delivery. Vendors behave differently when someone technical is reading the proposal — and the savings usually fund the retainer.
Security & Compliance Governance
Client security questionnaires answered with confidence, cyber-insurance requirements met before renewal, a risk register your board can read, and compliance readiness (PIPA, industry frameworks) treated as a program — not a fire drill each time a contract demands it.
Three Businesses That Need This (Usually Before They Know It)
The Growing SMB (20–100 staff)
Technology decisions have outgrown "ask whoever's good with computers." You're choosing systems you'll live with for a decade, and IT spend deserves the same rigour as any six-figure line item. We've strategized alongside exactly these mid-market teams — bringing the discipline before the expensive mistake, not after.
The Startup Building on Solid Ground
You need technical leadership for infrastructure, security, and vendor decisions — but a full-time CTO hire is premature and the founders' time is better spent on product. We've guided startups from first cloud accounts to diligence-ready documentation investors and enterprise customers actually ask for.
The Business With IT Staff, Missing IT Leadership
Your internal tech or existing provider handles tickets well — but nobody is planning next year. We slot in above operations, not instead of it: direction, budgets, and governance for the team you already trust. No turf war, just a plan.
A Retainer, a Cadence, and a Scorecard
No vague "advisory hours." A defined engagement with deliverables you can point to.
Baseline Assessment
We document your current technology estate, spend, risks, and contracts — the honest starting map most businesses have never had.
Roadmap & Budget
A prioritized 12–24 month plan tied to business goals, with costs, sequencing, and the quick wins pulled forward.
Monthly Leadership Days
A defined cadence of vCIO days each month: vendor meetings, project oversight, decisions unblocked, questionnaires answered.
Quarterly Business Review
Progress against the roadmap, spend against budget, risks retired — reported in business language your leadership team can act on.
Pricing is a fixed monthly retainer scoped to your size and cadence — a fraction of a $200K+ executive hire, and it typically pays for itself in avoided bad purchases and better vendor terms alone. Call (778) 775-4535 for a scoped quote.
Fractional IT Leadership, Explained
What's the difference between a vCIO and managed IT?
Managed IT runs technology day to day. A vCIO decides where it should go: roadmap, budget, vendors, governance. One keeps the lights on; the other decides which lights to build. Most growing businesses eventually need both.
vCIO or vCTO — which do we need?
vCIO leans operations and business systems (budgets, vendors, security governance); vCTO leans product and engineering decisions for startups. Our practice is accredited for both — the engagement is shaped to which decisions you actually face.
We already have an IT provider. Is this a conflict?
No — leadership sits above operations. We can direct and hold accountable your existing provider or internal staff. Clients often find their current provider performs better once someone technical owns the scorecard.
How many days a month do we get?
Scoped to your needs — typically one to four leadership days per month plus the quarterly review. Enough to own the decisions; never billed as vague "advisory hours."
Can you help with a specific decision, not a retainer?
Yes — ERP selections, office moves, security questionnaire responses, and cloud commitments work as fixed-scope engagements. Many retainers start exactly this way.
How do we start?
A no-obligation strategy conversation: bring the decision that's keeping you up at night, and we'll tell you honestly whether it needs a vCIO or just a good answer. Call (778) 775-4535 or get in touch.
Who Owns Your Next Big Technology Decision?
Book a strategy conversation. Bring the decision on your desk — ERP, security questionnaire, cloud commitment, office move — and get a senior, vendor-neutral read on it. No pressure, no pitch.
Related Services
Managed IT Services
The operations layer under your strategy — monitoring, help desk, and security for one monthly fee.
AI & Automation
Managed AI workflows and analytics dashboards — often the first initiative on a new roadmap.
Network Security
The engineering behind the governance — firewalls, segmentation, and incident response.
